For YA & Adult Readers!

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Chris Ross's work is
both insightful and big-hearted, and he opens the door to his beloved
Indiana like a gracious host who knows the skeletons have already
tumbled out of the closet, but he's throwing the party anyway. Ross
illuminates the lives of his characters with a vision and voice guided
by empathy and humor. He captures the poignant resiliency and spirit
found in Indiana's small towns where the factories have closed, yet the
people still play baseball in the industry league, even though the
industry no longer exists.

Parked in a small southern Indiana
town, Born & Raised is set where hope and defeat stain two sides of
the same coin – a coin tossed to the kid working the night games at the
men’s industrial softball league even though all industry moved on years
ago. It is the coming of age story of Sean Yokam, a reluctant nineteen
year-old trucker, fighting not to come apart. As Sean sifts through the
two summers he believes have brought him to where he’s now stuck, he
starts to realize that the bad things happening are just the things
people do to one another in order to survive.

The summer of ’84
delivers Sean the first chill of neglect as his father, Roy, and his
sister, Billie, desperately try to fill in the void left by Sean’s
mother. Roy, turning every success into a failure, roams the used car
lots, flips through the pages of International Male catalog and soaks up
whatever there is to be found at the singles’ scene, while Billie, like
an animal chasing after its own tail, does the best she can on the fate
of scratch off-lottery tickets and the pre-set radio stations of a
Dodge Dynasty whose seats are draped in beach towels that reek of Little
Kings beer and suntan lotion.

The summer of ’90 finds them, six
years later, in one way or another, living up to the Yokam family code
of shit in one hand, wish in the other, see which fills up first. Sean, a
high school graduate, finds himself setting out on his own – not to
escape, but to find a way back. Back to what or where, he’s not sure,
but as life unfolds for him, it’s becoming painfully clear that love, in
the end, is blind – but only to those who aren’t looking for it.

Chris Ross keeps it real in Born & Raised as he relates life in the summer of 1984 for Sean Yoakam. With a mother who walked out on her family and a not so affectionate older sister and father, Sean's coming of age story makes you want to better
appreciate the blessings and good family life you may have.

Ross' storytelling paints the picture of what Sean's life is like very vividly. It easy to envision yourself growing up in Sean's shoes no matter how tough or unusual, the writing style is that expressive and honest. I wasn't too crazy about the narration style with no quotation marks around speech, though it made the story sound conversational and more like Sean's speaking directly to the reader, I had a hard time keeping up each character's speech. I wouldn't say that this detracted from the enjoyment of the story, but it did occasionally trip me up during some scenes.

Ross doesn't completely depress readers, but shows the possible reality
that could be anyone's life. I would recommend Born & Raised, especially because it is a story that will capture readers who love to see someone young make it through rough situations.